History Recap / StrangerThingsS4E9Chapter9ThePiggyback

** Lucas gives one to Jason, who at this point refuses to believe anything he says. While the prospect of a dimensional creature invading Hawkins seems out of reach, the simple fact Jason is angrily refusing to accept Chrissy (who he has put on a pedestal, which arguably didn't help her own problems) was buying drugs from Eddie, it's enough for Lucas to furiously say that "being normal" (aka what Jason is) is more or less just "being a vengeful psychopath" (while Jason isn't actually a psychopath, his behavior was surely psychopathic at the moment to sat the least).

* SpinTheBottle: Eleven does this in the end of the episode.

* DiesWideOpen: Eddie's eyes are wide open when he dies [[DiedInYourArmsTonight in Dustin's arms]].

* ExtraLongEpisode: Exaggerated. Most episodes in season 4 clocked in at over an hour. This one runs at a whopping 2 hours and 30 minutes.
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Jason suffers one of the most brutal deaths of the show, having his middle section disintegrated entirely by the Gate opening.

* GroinAttack: Erica fights off Andy by kicking him in the nuts.

* ThePowerOfLove: It took him long enough to say it, but Mike's voice and declaration of his love for El gives her the strength to fight.

'''Argyle 2.0''': ''(WTF face)''\\

-->'''Argyle''': "You see this weird girl behind me? She needs a tub with a bunch of salt so we can enhance her psychic power so she can save the world from this super bad dude."
-->'''Argyle 2.0''': ''(WTF face)''
-->'''Eleven:''' I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer.
-->'''Max:''' [[FlatWhat ...What?]]

* ShoutOut :
** To ''Film/{{Superman}}'' when Eleven is able to make Max's heart start again. The camera circles are a nice touch.

** Another ShoutOut to ''Film/{{Halloween}}'' comes after the BigBad falls out the window, but in the next shot, he's not on the sidewalk anymore.

** A sweet moment between Mike and Eleven is disrupted by Argyle serving them a pineapple pizza.

* CrucifiedHeroShot: Vecna uses his tendrils to hold up Max and Eleven against walls with their arms spread-out so he can talk to them eye-to-eye.

* NeverFoundTheBody: Vecna is set on fire by a couple of Molotov Cocktails, Nancy nails him point-blank several times with a shotgun, ''and'' he gets knocked out a third-story window, but once the group makes it downstairs, he's gone. Justified; as the Upside Down is ''his'' domain, and it would never be that easy to kill him on his own turf.

** Andy's whereabouts after Erica beats the crap out of him is left unrevealed. Its possible he was killed by the portal opening

Two days later, several people have evacuated from Hawkins while relief operations work out of the high school. Max is rendered comatose. Eddie is blamed for the deaths and potentially the earthquake as well. Will, Mike, Eleven, Jonathan, and Argyle arrive in Hawkins and are reunited with the others; the group sets about refurbishing Hopper's cottage in the woods when Joyce and Hopper are dropped off by government agents. After all the happy reunions, Will admits tha he can still feel Vecna out and about despite the latter's physical form being destroyed, and is apparently proven right when "snow" from the Upside Down starts falling around Hawkins. The group observes a decaying field as the horizon is tinted a sickeningly familiar shade of red, bearing witness to the armies of Hell as they unleash an all-out assault on the world.

%% SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome does not apply to Max being comatose after being revived, as it involves unrealistic supernatural powers.

* ExtraLongEpisode: Most episodes in season 4 clocked in at over an hour. This one runs at a whopping 2 hours and 30 minutes.

* WithinArmsReach: When he's attempting to [[BreakThemByTalking break her by talking]], Max fights back against Vecna (apparently possessing Lucas) by smashing him in the face with a lamp.

** Vecna breaks Max's body and burns out her eyes, but stops before caving in her skull, realizing the damage was already enough. Her injuries are too severe a strain on her, and after begging she doesn't want to die, Max tragically passes in Lucas' arms.